The 'Shy Eye Doctor' Who Ended 54 Years of Assad Family Rule in Syria

The fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in the early hours of Sunday, December 9, marked the end of his 14-year struggle to maintain power during the Syrian civil war. Assad's downfall stands in stark contrast to the early months of his rise to power 24 years ago; at that time, after three decades of his father's undisputed dominance over Syria, he seemed to offer hope for a departure from his father's violent rule. However, in his first year in power, when a thousand intellectuals published a letter demanding a multi-party democracy, he resorted to the oppressive intelligence apparatus established by his father. In the eleventh year of his rule, instead of pursuing political openness, he focused on delivering 'economic reforms' to the people and responded to the first sparks of peaceful protests in Daraa, in the south of the country, with the same brutal suppression tactics as his father, leading to the onset of the civil war. The Syrian war left nearly half a million dead and displaced half of the 23 million population, with millions fleeing to Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, and Lebanon, while many young people who could afford to travel overland to Europe faced numerous hardships to reach countries like Germany. The presence of millions of Syrians in Europe has significantly impacted the political situation in these countries in recent years, contributing to the rise of the far-right. Until 11 days ago, Syria appeared 'safe and secure.' With the support of Russia, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Bashar al-Assad's army seemed to have overcome the devastating internal war and regained control of about 70% of the country's territory. Just two weeks ago, while all eyes in the region and the world were on the wars in Gaza and against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria seemed relatively stable despite the continued presence of armed opposition forces in Idlib and eastern regions. On the morning of December 7, when Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon announced a ceasefire, no one imagined that an attack in Syria would begin just hours later, leading to the complete downfall of Bashar al-Assad's regime just 11 days later. In recent years, Arab countries in the region had embraced Syria and Bashar al-Assad again, with the Damascus government's membership in the Arab League being revived last year. Saudi Arabia resumed relations with Damascus this spring, sending its first ambassador to Syria, while the UAE warmly welcomed Assad several times and initiated economic assistance plans in Syria. However, the surprise attack by opposition forces led by the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (Liberation of Levant) from Idlib, starting on December 7, resulted in the retreat of Assad's government forces in the provinces of Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and finally Damascus. Assad's army, which heavily relied on its external allies during the suppression of the civil war and the subsequent stabilization, quickly collapsed this time while these forces were preoccupied with their own battles. The death of Bashar's older brother brought him to power. An accident 30 years ago led to the death of Basil al-Assad, Hafiz al-Assad's eldest son and his trained successor for leadership in Syria, changing Bashar's fate. At that time, Bashar was enjoying his life in London while studying ophthalmology at top universities in the UK. Hafiz al-Assad summoned him back to Damascus and ordered him to undergo military training to prepare for leadership. Six years later, following Hafiz al-Assad's death, the Syrian parliament lowered the presidential age requirement from 40 to 34, which was Bashar's age, and he, having obtained the rank of colonel, came to power during a 'referendum' with only one candidate. Before his leadership, Bashar's only official position was the presidency of the country's computer association. A few months after taking his father's place, he married Asma al-Akhras, the daughter of a powerful Syrian family from Homs, who was born in the UK and studied banking. The union of two well-educated Western specialists, both appearing well-dressed, tall, and attractive, raised hopes in the West for a departure from the iron-fisted governance style of Hafiz al-Assad. Bashar al-Assad's economic reform policies empowered and flourished the private sector in Syria, revitalizing the streets of Damascus and boosting tourism simultaneously. The assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former Prime Minister of Lebanon who was running for another term, dealt a significant blow to Bashar al-Assad's credibility in the winter of 2005 following severe disagreements over the decades-long presence of the Syrian army in Lebanon. Many Lebanese still consider Bashar al-Assad the mastermind behind this assassination, with Hezbollah forces executing it. As a result of the severe crisis that followed Hariri's assassination, Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon and had to come to terms with a government in Beirut that cooperated with the United States. Bashar al-Assad, like his father, relied on the Alawite sect and family to strengthen his domestic position. He appointed his brother Maher to command the presidential guard and trusted him to suppress the internal uprising as it intensified. Assef Shawkat, the husband of Bashar's eldest sister, who was Deputy Minister of Defense, was another pillar of support for Bashar among the military. However, Shawkat was killed in a bombing during the second year of the civil war. Rami Makhlouf, a wealthy businessman and Bashar's cousin, was also a serious supporter of his cousin before their disagreements arose. Rami Makhlouf had called on the Syrian people just one day after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime to set aside their differences and do whatever was necessary to preserve the system. Bashar also assigned an increasing role to his wife in key positions in Syria, and when Asma and he announced in an unconventional manner that Asma was suffering from leukemia, they seemed to have garnered considerable public sympathy for themselves and their three children. Hafiz al-Assad, Bashar's father, instilled such fear and terror in the hearts of Syrians during his 30-year rule that he became notorious. Hafiz al-Assad, a senior officer of Alawite descent in the Syrian army, declared himself the leader of the Ba'ath Party and President following a series of mass executions during his military coup 54 years ago. Like his contemporaries, especially Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, he was known for the harshest suppression of opponents. His real surname was al-Wahsh (the Beast), which he changed to al-Assad (the Lion) during his military career as he aimed for power, but his opponents believed he and his son treated a large segment of the Syrian population with the same inherent cruelty. The 1980s in Syria began with the suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Jisr al-Shughur and the massacre in Aleppo's al-Sharqiya neighborhood on Eid al-Fitr in 1980, followed by the massacre at Tadmor prison (Palmyra). However, the most significant stain on Hafiz al-Assad's rule was the Hama massacres in 1981 and 1982, where over 60,000 people were killed. He justified this action as a means to prevent a coup by executing mass executions, detaining, and torturing individuals. Many experts trace the roots of the protests that began 20 years later during Bashar al-Assad's rule back to the bloody suppression in Hama. Hafiz al-Assad's prisons were filled with prisoners who spent decades of their lives in dungeons without their families knowing whether they were alive. In the last six years of his life, while preparing Bashar for succession, he continued extensive purges of the government and army of opponents. Despite being educated in the West and appearing more modern than his father, Bashar al-Assad followed his father's model in suppressing opponents. For years after he came to power, gatherings of more than five people were prohibited, and the country remained under emergency rule. Bashar al-Assad began suppressing protesters during the Syrian civil war from the spring of 2011 by ordering the army and intelligence to confront protests from residents in Daraa in the south of the country. Global human rights organizations emphasize that Bashar al-Assad's regime was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands during the civil war in Homs, Aleppo, Khan Shaykhun, and many other locations, including through the use of barrel bombs. The name of the Quds Force and other Iranian regional allies was mentioned in assisting Assad in these massacres, which Assad repeatedly denied. Bashar al-Assad's opponents insisted that a list of hundreds of thousands of missing Syrians includes those believed to have been killed by Assad's intelligence forces in prisons or imprisoned for years without trial or indictment. Now that the prison doors have opened, there may be an opportunity to investigate decades-old truths. The Ba'ath Party's banner has been folded in the region. During his 24 years in power, Bashar al-Assad denied popular opposition to him and considered the nearly 14-year civil war a result of the connection of 'foreign-backed terrorists.' Alongside the events leading to the fall of his regime, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Bashar al-Assad claimed that his country would never face a similar situation because he relied on the 'support' of his people. In the early hours of December 9, 1403, Assad's trace disappeared, and reports had been increasing over the past week regarding the presence of his wife and three children in Russia. In this context, the opposition entered the presidential palace in Damascus, and Assad's appointed prime minister immediately announced his cooperation with the opposition and his cabinet for the 'preservation of Syria.' With the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's 24-year regime and the end of the 54-year rule of the Assad family over Syria, the last Ba'ath regime, which once instilled fear in the hearts of the people and neighboring countries, has also come to an end. This event seems to indicate that the region and perhaps the world have reached a historic turning point that may herald new developments, alongside strengthening players like Turkey and diminishing the regional position of the Islamic Republic of Iran.